Dillon Square Deal - Why not

[Amputee Marksman]

I have been looking at and researching progressive reloading presses for a while.

Background:
I have been reloading for years on an RCBS Single Stage. 380, 9mm, 38/357, 30 Carbine, 30-06
I have every piece of reloading equipment that is needed.
In the last year I have reloaded over 6000 rounds of 9mm and less than 500 of all other cartridges combined.

My mind is made up to go with a Dillon. It is just a question of which one. One important factor is expense. I would like to keep the cash outlay down to a minimum.

Given the data I believe that a Square Deal in 9mm will fit my needs. Set it up and crank out 9mm rounds. Anything else I need can be done with my existing setup. Without getting into the 550 or 650 are just bigger and better and I need to get one are there any specific reasons why my plan to get a Square Deal dedicated to 9mm is bad.

 

[Woodstock]

They're good machines. You're aware that they can't reload rifle, but they turn out lots of quality pistol ammo. The only negative might be the tight spaces if you have big hands, but if you're not going to be changing toolheads, it shouldn't be a problem.
Brian Enos' website has a thread with a title like "Which Dillon for you?". Lots of other good info there, too.

 

[SJan]

6k on a single stage hurts my feelings


SDB only loads pistol cartridges with proprietary dies. If you plan on keeping your single stage for lower quantity caliber, the SDB is a great cost effective larger volume press.
If you ever want to load another pistol caliber on it, a conversion is more affordable than any other progressive press (assuming you don't have dies for that caliber already). I have loaded about 50k on a SDB, I would be still using one if I had not found a great deal on a 650

 

[asp]

It sounds like you are between the SDB and the 550. The 650 is a bit more $. I own both.

I've reloaded tens of thousands on a SDB. My only complaints are that caliber changes are slow and new ones are expensive to add.

Its not much more money to go for a 550 and that gets you a lot more capability to add future calibers, but it sounds like you don't anticipate that. It would, however, let you reuse your current dies. I find the 550 a quite a bit slower to use safely (higher risk of doing a double charge) but that's probably because I have so much more time behind a SDB.

SDB's shine when set up for one particular load and never changed. You can really crank them out fast. I do big batches of one particular load at a time and then reconfigure the press when it's time to load something else. I wish I had 2 so I could leave one set up in small primer and another in large. They are a bit of a deviation from the norm and as such don't get a lot of love, but they are really great machines if you accept their 2 quirks.

550's are easier to reconfigure and a bit more universal- and still much faster than single stage loading. You could really do a lot more with a 550 in the long run.

If you get a sdb in 9mm, I would be surprised if you regret it. That said, you may still want to get a 550 years later. I did.

Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

Why not the Square Deal B?

For me, it was the Dillon only proprietary dies and no rifle calibers were the reasons I never bought a SDB, I went with the 550B.

Decide how many presses you want to buy, who's dies you may want to use, whether or not you'll be doing rifle calibers now or in the future. There's little to no room for expansion with the SDB.

 

[warwickben]

I got a 45 kit for Xmas . Love the thing . Since it's the only pistol round I shoot I can crank ammo out fairly easy on it .

I'm debating getting a 9mm conversion for the gf or buying one for her .

 

[IPSC_DRL]

I have 2 SDB presses. One is set up in .45ACP all the time and the other gets swapped between 9 different calibers. For high volume pistol reloading, they can't be beat.

Good luck.

 

[Amputee Marksman]

I understand and acknowledge the Square Deal can't do rifle loads. I am not planning on getting rid of my RCBS so I can use it for rifle loads.

I have gone back and forth on the Square Deal and changing calibers. Right now about all I load is 9mm however I would like to get a 45 eventually. At my current consumption of 9mm I am looking to save time. It just takes too much time with a single stage to crank out 500+ rounds a month although I will say, using the single stage and with my procedure and attention to detail I produce very high quality reloads.

One thing I am concerned about with progressives in general is case length. I check every case after resizing and decapping and with the Square Deal that won't happen. In general I never find cases too long, just the opposite. For every 500 rounds of range brass I find 2 or 3 that are too short and I toss them.

 

[jtnf]

 

[Palladin]

I inherited two SDB from my Dad....he bought a 38/357 and a 45. In hindsight, if it were me, I would have gone with the 550, as he already had the dies.
Both have thousands of rounds thru them and are 20+ yrs old.

 

[Fixxah]

Get a 650 and be done with it.

 

[highlander]

Get the 550B. Though the idea of a dedicated press in ideal at some point you're going to wish you bought the 550. I had a 550 and in my opinion it's the most versatile of the Dillon press line. It will load virtually any pistol or rifle caliber,convertion kits and tool heads are inexpensive compared to the bigger 650 or 1050. It's also a much easier machine to maintain,change primer cups.
The 550 is capable of 100 rds in 5 - 10 minutes without breaking a sweat.
I went to the 650 nice machine but it has a few quirks that if you aren't mechanical inclined can lead to a good deal of frustration and a run of deleted explitives

 

[grizquad]

Go to Brian Enos website http://www.brianenos.com/index.html
Brian has as good a price as you will get on Dillon as prices are controlled by Dillon. Brian has a great FAQ section that will help you determine what press you should get . I got my 650 from him and its probably more press than I need, but if I want to change to a different shell, it is very fast and efficient.

 

[IPSC_DRL]

I understand and acknowledge the Square Deal can't do rifle loads. I am not planning on getting rid of my RCBS so I can use it for rifle loads.

I have gone back and forth on the Square Deal and changing calibers. Right now about all I load is 9mm however I would like to get a 45 eventually. At my current consumption of 9mm I am looking to save time. It just takes too much time with a single stage to crank out 500+ rounds a month although I will say, using the single stage and with my procedure and attention to detail I produce very high quality reloads.

One thing I am concerned about with progressives in general is case length. I check every case after resizing and decapping and with the Square Deal that won't happen. In general I never find cases too long, just the opposite. For every 500 rounds of range brass I find 2 or 3 that are too short and I toss them.

If that is your need, then the SDB is a no-brainer. With a couple of primer tubes loaded up, I can crank out 500 rounds in an hour.

Find one used if you can and save a few bucks. They tend to hold their value. Pay the $20-30 to ship it to AZ if it is in rough shape and they will rebuild it and send it back to you for free. That is how I got my second one. A guy at my club was selling it for cheap. Now it is like new.

Whatever press you eventually decide on, just make sure it is blue.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

Whatever press you eventually decide on, just make sure it is blue.

As to the high end - I was talking to a commercial reloader recently (a "real" commercial reloader, not some guy with a couple of 1050s who thinks he is in the ammo business).

He told me that the Ammoload is a much nicer machine than the Camdex. If you go with an Ammoload, it won't be blue but it will outperform any Dillon (even one with an autodrive from Mark VII). I don't know the price of the Ammoload, but the Camdex salesman told me their machines run about $35K in one caliber. They are rated for a fast caliber change - only about 4 hours worth of work.

 

[Amputee Marksman]

I have been to Brian Enos website. It was useful. Nothing against him but when I buy it will be local. I was up at Riley's last weekend and the guy was really nice, answered my questions, gave suggestions etc. I like keeping my money local if possible.

 

[xtry51]

I have a 9mm SDB. Best reloading purchase I've made. Do it.

 

[DW357]

One thing I am concerned about with progressives in general is case length. I check every case after resizing and decapping and with the Square Deal that won't happen. In general I never find cases too long, just the opposite. For every 500 rounds of range brass I find 2 or 3 that are too short and I toss them.

With 9mm brass?? I never bother to measure 9mm cases that would take forever lol and not really necessary. I apologize if I'm misreading your post.

 

[houdini]

buy a 550

 

[Nickle]

The SDB is a good choice, if you're not changing calibers or doing rifle.

Frankly, for rifle ammo, you're usually going to be better off using a regular press (non-progressive). That's going to shock some, but for really good rifle ammo, it's pretty much true. I actually use LE Wilson stuff for the real precision ammo.

If you plan on changing calibers, even occasionally, I think the 550 or 650 would be better.

For 2 calibers, I suggest having 2 SDB's, leaving them set up.

I suggest talking to an SDB owner (and user).

 

[SJan]

I suggest talking to an SDB owner (and user).

Several of us have given our positive reviews.

Get the SDB. Buy lots of bullets, primers and powder. Make lots of ammos, profit

 

[EddieCoyle]

Get it. There's no downside for you at this point. When/if you're ready to upgrade, you'll be able to sell it for very close to what you paid for it.

If you're worried about case length, there's nothing stopping you from sorting your cases prior to loading them on the Sq Deal. You don't have to wait until you size them to sort out the short ones. They might "grow" a bit when you size them, but that growth is consistent, so just experiment a bit to find the correct minimum pre-sizing length, and sort to your heart's content.

 

[Amputee Marksman]

With 9mm brass?? I never bother to measure 9mm cases that would take forever lol and not really necessary. I apologize if I'm misreading your post.

No misread. I clean the brass, resize and decap then throw it in a 5 gallon bucket. While I am watching the tube I sit there and inspect and measure every case for length. Like I said I end up throwing away about 0.6% of the cases. I know I am being anal however all I use is range brass so I have no history for any of it. Probably overkill but subsequent to starting the 100% inspection and measurement program I have not had 1 misfeed, failure to extract or jam and I use my reloads in 4 different 9mm pistols.

 

[WanMan99]

I have been to Brian Enos website. It was useful. Nothing against him but when I buy it will be local. I was up at Riley's last weekend and the guy was really nice, answered my questions, gave suggestions etc. I like keeping my money local if possible.

Good point. I bought my 650 from Rileys after researching online. I buy my full conversion kits from Brian Enos. He has a conversion package deal that has everything you need (powder holder, tool head, powder check, etc). I now have full setups for 9mm, .38/.357, .223, .45acp and a conversion swap is done in less than 10 minutes.
If you are only going to be focusing on a single caliber or two at the most than a SDB maybe your best bet. If you will be doing multiple calibers and want auto index, powder check, case feeder then a 650 is the way to go.

 

[Rate_of_Twist]

I understand and acknowledge the Square Deal can't do rifle loads. I am not planning on getting rid of my RCBS so I can use it for rifle loads.

I have gone back and forth on the Square Deal and changing calibers. Right now about all I load is 9mm however I would like to get a 45 eventually. At my current consumption of 9mm I am looking to save time. It just takes too much time with a single stage to crank out 500+ rounds a month although I will say, using the single stage and with my procedure and attention to detail I produce very high quality reloads.

One thing I am concerned about with progressives in general is case length. I check every case after resizing and decapping and with the Square Deal that won't happen. In general I never find cases too long, just the opposite. For every 500 rounds of range brass I find 2 or 3 that are too short and I toss them.

Personally, I'm lazy and dumb. I don't want to take the time to change over my 550 from small to large primers.... It's not hard, its just annoying. Everything that goes on my 550 is small primer or it doesn't get loaded there.... (Just got a single stage to handle those)

So, given your situation of looking to do both 9 and 45 with no rifle and already having a single stage I might consider two square deals, one in 9 one in 45. If you buy them used at the right price you'll be in for less than a 55b with the dies and conversions kits.

For me, the awesomeness of any of the Dillon's is the tool head setup were everything stayscset the way I like. Like I said, I'm dum and lazy and I hate messing or fiddling with a good setup. That mindset gets expensive when your buying dies, a conversion kit a tool head and a powder measure for every caliber you have on a 550.

The 550 is a better press IMHO than the SD, but just because it's better doesn't mean the SD isn't best suited for certain situations.... Just remember, if you change your mind about rifle ammo, or start adding lists of proprietary dies that advantage and money spent goes right out the window

 

[Knuckle Dragger]

Count me in as a Square Deal fan. It's a great press if you want to crank out large quantities of a single caliber. I learned to reload on a SDB and have thousand of round through one.

As noted by others, it is not a good press for multiple calibers and it can't reload rifle cartridges. For those reasons I graduated years ago.

One other important factor is resale value. Dillon setups easily get 85-90% of the retail price second hand. If you invest in a SDB now and decide later to upgrade to a 550 for a 650, you marginal cost after selling the SDB will be insignificant.

 

[Gammon]

I once owned an SD and didn't like it at all. Luckily, it broke and I convinced Dillon to let me pay the extra $ and get a 550. This 550 has served me well for over 20 years for pistol calibers and even 223 when I was bitten by the "AR Bug". The 550 costs a little more but is worth it.

The only complaint I have is that the optional case feeder doesn't work well at all. If you see high output and a case feeder in your future, get a 650.

 

[peterthefish]

Hornady LNL AP. Non proprietary dies, extra station if you want a powder check, can handle rifle, auto indexing (unlike 550). Cheaper than 650 (unless you need case feed which it doesn't sound like).

 

[Rate_of_Twist]

Hornady LNL AP. Non proprietary dies, extra station if you want a powder check, can handle rifle, auto indexing (unlike 550). Cheaper than 650 (unless you need case feed which it doesn't sound like).

The extra station on a LNL or 650 is certainly a benefit, but I don't think I've ever considered the lack of auto indexing on a 550 to be a hindrance.... For my personal use, more of a benefit.

 

[EddieCoyle]

The extra station on a LNL or 650 is certainly a benefit, but I don't think I've ever considered the lack of auto indexing on a 550 to be a hindrance.... For my personal use, more of a benefit.

It's much harder to accidentally double charge on a 650 or L-N-L than it is on a 550.